Pavel Datsyuk’s backhand could be considered the greatest hockey highlight tool of the 21st century.
Whether it’s with his insanely smooth backhand toe drags breaking Marty Turco or Tomas Vokoun’s ankles, or just rifling a shot top shelf, his backhand created a lot of magic in his hockey career. That’s why it should come as no surprise that it was the star of this highlight from the KHL All-Star game.
Datsyuk starts his shootout challenge with a forseberg-esque move to his forehand, but then the real magic happens. Similar to the move he pulled on Antti Niemi in 2010, Datsyuk pulls the puck to the side, but instead uses his back hand to just barely flip the puck over the goaltender.
Here’s just the backhand flick if you want to loop it forever and ever.
It’s similar to this original move from Linus Omark, but with a special “Magic Man” twist.
We wonder if this will have more NHL fans upset that the All-Star Shootout Challenge was taken out of this year’s game and replaced with a celebrity shootout.
